1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a an automotive transmission, and more particularly to a method of assembling a manual transmission which is particularly adaptable for use in a front-wheel-drive automotive vehicle having a transversely mounted engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the transmission of the type mentioned above, a shift control mechanism is arranged so that a control rod actuated by a manual shift lever in a vehicle cabin extends perpendicular to a fork shaft on which shift forks slide axially. Thus, a so-called direction changing device is equipped between the control rod and the shift forks, which functions to convert axial movement of the control rod to sliding movement of a selected one of the shift forks along the axis of the fork shaft.
One shift control mechanism of the above-mentioned type generally comprises a plurality of shift forks slidably supported on a common fork shaft, a plurality of pivoting levers pivotally mounted on a common pivoting pin, and a selecting head member secured to the control rod to be movable therewith. One end of each pivoting lever is pivotally joined with an extension of the corresponding shift fork and the other end of the lever is selectively engageable with the selecting head member, so that upon a selecting operation of the control rod achieved by rotation thereof about its axis, the selecting head member is brought into engagement with the other end of the selected pivoting lever, and upon a shifting operation of the rod achieved by the axial movement thereof after the selecting operation, the selected pivoting lever is rotated about the common pivoting pin in a given direction to move the corresponding shift fork on and along the fork shaft to shift the corresponding coupling sleeve to establish a given gear ratio. In such a shift control mechanism, however, because of the inherent arrangement of the shift forks relative to the coupling sleeves, mounting of the shift fork assembly to the transmission housing requires an assembling procedure wherein the shift forks are previously subassembled on the fork shaft and, then, the fork shaft is secured to the transmission housing holding the shift forks in respective engagement with the corresponding coupling sleeves. This assembling procedure is time consuming work or troublesome.